Ash Wednesday

Tonight was a good night for our family. Kids came home, crabby about going to church. We made it barely on time and I had my doubts about the rest of the night. Wouldn't you know, the short service was just what we needed to get on the right track. We came home to a wonderful night together. Eight had N shave his head into a Mohawk for crazy hair day. Seven desperately needed a haircut as well, but of course met the idea with much protest. When it was his idea to cut off the long part in the back, he agreed. No money was exchanged, we didn't even have to bribe him! I was able to paint Fives nails for her valentines party tomorrow. I usually do not do that, but when we came upon the polish, it seemed like a good idea. We even put sparkles on her nails. We decided as a family what we would give up for Lent. There has been more yelling than I'd like to admit in this house lately. We decided to give up yelling. We have a small jar in the kitchen. If you yell, you have to put a paper clip in the jar. You get to take it out when you do a good deed for someone else. We hope to have no paper clips by the time Lent is done. We are also not going to eat food at McDonalds or Burger King. Not that we do that much, I can not recall our last meal there. Everyone was on board and happy. Here's to a great start of change this Lenten season!

It's nearly a week

It's almost a week and we're close to finishing our sleep training. Just when I thought we had progress, last night was completely off the charts. I am not sure what the change was, but Baby Girl was unlike any other night. My hunch is feeding her fruit at the evening meal could be the problem. She went down like normal, but woke up at 10:30 upset. I fed her as usual and put her back down. No go. She was awake for a VERY LONG TIME. I couldn't stay up with her. Good thing the dad could. She had two messy diapers. We'll see what we are in store for tonight. The bedtime routine was as usual. Praying for a quiet night. Out off all the nights, only two were with tears. Tonight, we are waiting to see if school is closed tomorrow. Everyone things there will be a snow day, which leads probably yes. Plows usually come two days after the storm is done. We'll see, but I think they'll just cancel, even if the weather is fine tomorrow. Buses won't be able to pick up the kids. Mine will be thrilled. Two weeks in a row with no school on Monday, next two weeks in a row with no school on Friday.

Moving day success

We moved Baby Girl into the girl room and I dare say, it was quite a success. I feel so much better. It was a step in the right direction. I can do this. I can have four kids. I guess it was fear that kept her in my room. Fear of the other kids not getting any sleep. Fear of disturbing everyone. The only one being disturbed was me and my crabbiness caused everyone frustration. We are on to a new road. After two days of not much else going on, I am praying for no snow day tomorrow. It is quite cold here. N couldn't get either of his vehicles started this am and took the van. Good thing we all went to church last night. Fr. B is headed for Mexico tomorrow! We wish him safe travels and are a tad jealous. Our neighbors continue on their around the world vacation. So happy for them! They are half way through their journeys. I can't wait to have coffee with her and hear all about it. Baby Girl is walking. She started out with 1 step, then 3, then 6 and now 9! We are very proud of her. It's bazaar to see her walking. My guess is with four siblings to keep up with, she was highly motivated, making her the earliest walker in the family. I still struggle with what to feed her at times. She will have nothing to do with baby food, which is fine. We run into trouble with too much fruit. It leads to diaper issues. Not much else. Starting to get my walleye festival items in order. N is building bunk beds for the girl room. We're starting a list to have somethings done by April. My family will be coming for Seven's first communion. Should be a great month. Can't wait for it to get here.

Finally to the Post

It took me 4 weeks to get to the post office. I finally made it and got letters/packages sent. Today, I received compliments about the info sent. My problem, I couldn't remember what I sent to whom. Oh well. There are worse things. Kids are good. It's so cold here, not as cold as in MN, but cold. I am ready for warmer temps. N is working on bunk beds for Five's room. So excited to get those done! N pulled out Sevens tooth just before the bus came. There was blood on Seven, N and myself. It was eventful. With N having the day off tomorrow, I hope we can get somethings done and have a great family day.

It's been awhile

My entries have been next to null these days. Not sure what the excuse is, lack of energy, too busy with all of life, exhausted at the end of the day or just no motivation. Any one of those could be my reason, but I can't decide which it is. Guess it must be a combination of all. I don't want to jinx myself, but I think we've got Baby Girl on a regular sleep schedule. Only took us 9 months! Not really, our trip to MN left her with lots of bad habits. She's back on track and I am so pleased. Today was our first meeting for Seven and his confirmation prep. Perhaps that is where my inspiration has come from. I was so happy with the things discussed. Discouraged at the same time. Sad that N misses out on these things. I can't do justice to try to repeat it all to him. The experience, fellowship and time with our kids at the church cannot be repeated at home. Everyone is in a different place once we are home. Different attitudes and answers. It was a great session and we came home ready for change, at least I did. I had forgotten the suggestion Fr. B had offered during our baptismal prep class. He suggested blessing your children when they leave to get on the bus and remind them they are a child of God. I had wanted to start doing this, but the idea slipped my mind. We discussed it on the ride home and everyone was in agreement this is something we want to add to our routine. I will catch Seven blessing Baby Girl on his own, completely random moments. I am so proud of him for this, but then struggle to wonder why he does these things and Eight does not. Where did I fail Eight? He just has a different personality than Seven. He's a thinker. Seven will act first, think later. Seven has been invited to a sleep over on Friday night. While I have no worries about where he is going, I can't help but want all my ducklings under one roof. I hate to let him go. This must be what it was like for my parents. I can't help but think of when they put me on the plane to Germany for 9 months. 18 and naive. I have to get better at this. I feel so strong about this when he is seven, will it get worse? I wish Eight could find a good friend like Seven has. Seven has a number of good friends. Five lost her first tooth last week. She was so proud! She came home from school and found me right away. I had a 3 day migraine last week. Wednesday she came straight to my bedroom to show me. In the morning she told me she has a wiggly tooth, but I just got her out the door, on to the bus. It could have been her head wiggling, I didn't really pay attention. Sure enough, snack time was pretzels and her tooth came right out. Seven needs to follow in suit, his top teeth are coming in and the other two keep moving. He looks more like Mater every day. Well, I believe that is all for now. Hope to please some readers, if you're still reading. Happy Monday to all!

Lets get together

Again, it's been awhile. What's new? Kids are back to school and finally back to normal. The first week back was a little rough. Baby Girl, I pray, is going to start to sleep better again. She's saying no to all baby food and is slowly saying yes to new things. Her spirits are high and she is happy. We're back to sleep training again. The trip to MN messed her up. Lots of bad habits picked up. Today is day 2. I feel so disappointed in myself that we're still on this road. Many different factors were present when training the other kids. I wish she had her own room. I think that made things easier. Just before Christmas, we got a new washing machine. I hated to spend money like that just before the holiday, but I am thankful it wasn't too much of an issue. I am in love with the new machine! It's amazing. I don't have to worry about load size anymore. It's great and I am incredibly thankful. Warm weather is coming this weekend, while MN is getting a storm. Praying for everyone to be safe.

I wanted a label maker for Christmas

It wasn't until now I remembered wishing for a label maker. Not sure why that thought came to my mind, but it did. I continue to attempt to eliminate the clutter, but creeps in. Still unpacking, we are slowly getting back to normal. Three suitcases remain in the living room, all full of clean clothes. The tree is still up as are all Christmas decorations. It is hard to get it all done. I worked on it all day yesterday, slightly distracted by organizing Five's room. Add all the new Christmas gifts only makes me want to organize in a new way. We're still just looking online at houses, there are a few that would work, but none that get me really excited. We've decided we need 4 bedrooms. Time is up. Sorry again for not writing more. We did have a great Christmas, but the trip home was terrible. We have to break it up more, there's no way around it.